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A walk to Victoria Park Village, Hackney
It was a bright, sunny day when we went for a walk along the Regent’s Canal to Victoria Park in search of lunch. We also wanted to explore the area just to the north of the park, called Victoria Park Village, which adds a touch of dash to Hackney. The green taxi outside the Royal…
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A Portuguese wine tasting in Billericay
Earlier this week I introduced 27 people to the joys and delights of the wines of Portugal or, rather, showed them eight wines, as a number of the tasters often travel to that lovely country, and several have tasted Portuguese wines with me before and enjoyed them in my wine club cases. The spacious first…
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Visiting old friends in Castilla y León
During the Circle of Wine Writers’ trip to Castilla y Le ón earlier this year we visited modern bodegas in newly demarcated, promoted wine regions in this beautiful part of northern Spain. There was one exception, however, to all this modernity: Bodegas Otero in Benavente, a wine business that was created in 1906 by the…
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All the Nines: Ninety Nine and others
One evening in February we invited four friends, all wine lovers, to a dinner with the theme of drinking wines from vintages ending in ‘nine’. Guests were invited, and we arranged between us what wines we would bring from our cellars – as you can imagine with older vintages more reds were available so we…
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Be my (Waitrose) Valentine!
There was lots of choice to flatter your Valentine in the Canary Wharf Waitrose yesterday, from £5 to £70 – and that’s not including the pink Champagne! Particularly inspired by the seductive packaging of the oysters I was reminded of Clement Freud’s comments about their aphrodisiac capabilities: “I ate a dozen but only seven worked…”
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Boutinot at the Tower of London
To the Armouries at the Tower of London for the Boutinot tasting. I enjoy this venue as there is a lot of space as well as daylight. The layout was good, with the cheap and cheerful (ie house wines) on one long table by the entrance; then spanning the room were tables with wines from…
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How To #1 – Open a Bottle of Sparkling Wine
1. Grasp bottle firmly and hold at 45⁰ pointing away from you, aiming at no-one. 2. Still holding the bottle firmly, grip the cork and twist it to remove. Please, no loud popping – so infra-dig. 3. Pour slowly and carefully. 4. Enjoy, with moderation of course. © The Wine Maestro & Wine Travel Guides
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Our Christmas dinner
Wink had bought me a seasonal cookbook, Elizabeth David’s Christmas. Compiled by Jill Norman, ED’s longstanding editor, from articles and recipes for a book which never reached fruition in this great author’s lifetime. As with all her books it makes a very good read as well as having lots of good recipes. We had decided…
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Christmas 2008
It was great to be back at Chalet Balaena where the snow was deep and crisp and even – a positive start to the ski season. Chalet Balaena Chalet Balaena with the mountain towering behind… … and the chapel in the old village, just down the road from us. While Wink took her new tenant,…
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Autumn Sunday in Greenwich
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” Albert Camus With another sunny day forecast we went to Greenwich Park where the views were a bit hazy at first. When we reached the top of One Tree Hill the sun had burnt off some of the mist and the views north became…